


No More Broken Promises

by Adaka



Category: All Time Low, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Aliens, Assassins, Characters will be added as they appear - Freeform, stuff like that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-21 15:45:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3697877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adaka/pseuds/Adaka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh was having a pretty normal life, the only thing abnormal was the strange dreams he's been having. Also, there's the fact that he can only remember up to a year ago. What really happened to him before a year ago? He had no idea, so when an assassin comes after him one day, Josh has to face all the events of who he was before he lost his memory,  as well as the price for remembering.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Dark, that's all everything was. The only thing that could be made out was the discrete whispers that sounded around. "You know why you're here, don't you?" a voice asked that rose above all the whispers._  
  
_But the man who couldn't see a thing refused to respond, he just remained still. "Answer me!" the other man shouted._  
  
_When he still refused to answer, there was a sudden flash of pain that seared through the blinded man's body as the cords attached to his wrist emitted an electrical impulse that wove its way through the blinded man's body. Even though this, he held his tongue, refusing to make a single noise. "I'll admit, you're a strong one," the unknown man said then cleared his throat as if he was demanding for something. "But unfortunately for you, everyone has their limits..."_  
  
Josh awoke with a start, his breathing was short and quick as if he was trying to regain the air that had been taken from him. He tried to make sense of the dream, how it fit in with the others he's been having for as long as he could remember. But for Josh, what he could remember only goes back about a year ago when he awoke in a field one night. He could still remember his first memory as if it just happened a second ago. The first thing he saw was the stars shining high up in the sky. And their was a voice, not nearly as harsh as the other voice from his dream. He later found out that the guy who was kneeling down next to him, making sure he was alright, was his now friend Tyler.  
  
Though Josh didn't know where he came from, or a thing about himself, other than his name that was written on some weird paper with other odd symbols that he couldn't quite make out, Tyler managed to help him get his 'new' life on track.  
  
He glanced over at the clock sitting at the side of his bed. The bright orange light that lit up the numbers reveled the time was only 3:47 in the morning. "Shit," Josh muttered, running a hand through his messy, scarlet hair as he turned away from the orange light.  
  
Knowing he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, Josh slipped out of bed and made his way to the kitchen. Their, he began rummaging through the cabinets until he found the box of Cheez Its he kept stashed for these 'late night adventures', and went to the couch to turn on the TV.  
  
He sat their until he could hear the annoying buzz of his alarm clock off in the other room of his small apartment, signaling it was time for him to get ready for work. Josh pushed himself off the couch and wandered over to his bedroom to switch off the alarm clock.  
  
By the time Josh was ready to go, there was only five minutes until his shift began. Lucky for him, the book store where he worked was only a two minute walk from his apartment building. Slipping on his shoes, Josh exited his apartment, locking the door behind him.  
  
"Just in time, Josh, only two minutes to spare," Joe, the owner of the book store commented.  
  
"Sorry," Josh gave an apologetic smile, "I had a bit of a rough morning."  
  
"Slept in?" Joe asked.  
  
"Just the opposite," Josh shook his head, "I woke up around quarter to four and couldn't get back to sleep."  
  
"Sorry to hear that, just try to not get yourself killed with any books or anything."  
  
"I'll try not to, but you never know, I might just get paper cutted to death," Josh joked, earning a small chuckle from Joe.  
  
The rest of his shift involved sorting out contents of boxes through out the store and reorganizing whatever was misplaced. Whenever all his work was momentary done, and no one was in the store to occasionally watch over to make sure they wouldn't steal anything, Josh would go up to the check out counter and talk to his friend Tyler. "Quarter to four?" Tyler shook his head, "You've been up since about 3:45? What did you do all that while, or do I not want to know?"  
  
"It was nothing dirty, don't worry," Josh waved a hand to dismiss the thought, "I was just watching TV and eating Cheez Its."  
  
Tyler scoffed, "That seems like a pretty good morning to me."  
  
"Sure is, if you want to be dead ass tired by the time noon comes around."  
  
The rest of their shift wasn't all that interesting, the same scenario as any other day. Come two o'clock, Alex and Zack appeared for their shift, signaling that Josh and Tyler were free to leave.  
  
Around six in the afternoon, a man stood on the sidewalk near the book store. He was dressed in all black, wore a smooth leather jacket and wore something that resembled a helmet with a red, translucent bar that ran along the area where one could see out of. Glancing up at the book store, the technology inside the helmet scanned the small building, reveling all known information about the store. Pressing a button on the helmet near his ear, the device retracted down the back of his head and wound around his neck so it appeared he was wearing a black band around his throat.  
  
He smoothed back his dark brown hair with a blond portion angled to one side before going to enter the store. The first thing he did when he entered the store was walk up to the check out, his black leather boots silently treading across the carpeted floor. "Hey you," he said to Alex who was straining up the book marks that were displayed on the counter.  
  
"Alex," he said dryly, looking up at the man in front of him, "What can I do for you, sir?"  
  
"I need to speak to this man," he said pulling out an iPhone-like object from his leather jacket and placed it on the counter. Touching the screen, it reveled a head shot of Josh, standing in front of a steel background.  
  
"Josh?" Alex looked up confused, glancing over at Zack who was curiously peaking around a bookshelf. "he isn't here right now, but can I take a message?"  
  
The man was silent for a moment as he pocketed the cellphone-like device , then said with a monotone voice, "Tell him my boss' boss is going to make him remember everything he forced himself to forget."  
  
"Uh...all...alright?" Alex wrote down the message, wondering what Josh got himself into.  
  
Alex wanted to ask the mysterious man more but he already turned around and was heading out the store. When he was gone, Zack quickly went over to Alex and asked, "What the hell was that about?"  
  
Alex was silent for a moment, staring down at the message before he said,"He was looking for Josh. When I told him Josh wasn't here at the moment, he wanted me to give him this message."  
  
Zack read the note when Alex slid it to him across the counter and Zack gave a small laugh "My boss' boss. That's one way of saying it."  
  
"Come on dude, this is serious!" Alex's eyes widened, unsure of how Zack could be completely chill about this. "What if that was some mafia guy looking for Josh because Josh did something really bad?"  
  
"Calm down, it was probably some guy playing a trick on us," Zack reassured.  
  
"But his phone, I've never seen any model like  _that_ before," Alex then gasped, "What if he's some spy or assassin trying to kill Josh because Josh hacked into some top secret government project?"  
  
"Dude," Zack calmly placed a hand on Alex's shoulder, "If he was going to kill Josh, then why would he show his face to us where we could easily mention him to the police if something were to happen to him?"  
  
"I...I suppose you're right," Alex nodded, calming down a bit, "Murderers aren't usually  _that_ stupid."  
  
"Not unless they wish to get caught," Zack gave a small laugh.  
  
"Yeah," Alex gave a laugh as well, only his laugh was a bit more nervous.  
  
-*-*-  
  
Once he left the store, the man in all black touched the black strip around his neck right on the part that covered his throat, causing the device to reactivate. It slid back up his head just as swiftly as it slid down before. Pressing a button on the helmet that was right over the center of his ear, he spoke out loud, "Phone Patrick."  
  
He listened to the four beeps as the connection was going through then heard a bored, "Hello?"  
  
"Liar," he told Patrick with a bit of humor, walking up to the abandoned building he hid everything in.  
  
"Liar?" Patrick repeated. "How did I lie to you?"  
  
"He was not where you said he'd be, Patrick," he frowned, looking around to make sure no one spotted him entering the broken down building.  
  
"Alright, Jack, calm down. All I know is that he works their or whatever. So try a different time tomorrow. And if not, then hunt him down. Do your thing, Jack. Why else would Billie specifically ask for you to do this job if there was someone more qualified than you to do it?"  
  
"I know, I know. There's no need for a pep talk," Jack rolled his eyes. "I just need to kill him and then I can get off this god forsaken planet."  
  
"Oh, I should probably mention one more thing, he want's Josh alive," Patrick cautiously said.  
  
Jack made a hissing noise then said, "Holy fuck, Patrick, you couldn't have mentioned that sooner? You do know if he  _was_ at that book store when I got their, he probably would have been dead by now?"  
  
"Yeah, whoops, my bad."  
  
"My bad," Jack mocked, "Good bye."  
  
"Wait!" Patrick said before Jack had a chance to end the call.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Remember one thing: he may have his memories erased, but he may still know how to defend himself just as good as he could with his old memories," Patrick said.  
  
"Yeah? Well he has his skills, and I have mine." And with that, Jack ended the call.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> doo dee doot, here's chapter two, hope you enjoy~

About an hour into the morning shift, Alex raced through the front door with the message Jack given him the previous night written down on a piece of paper clutched in his hand. "Tyler," Alex said quickly as soon as he entered the store, panic laced within his voice, "Where's Josh?"  
  
"Right here," Josh said behind Alex, a little worried on Alex's behavior, then placed the box of magazines he was holding down by the book shelf, "What's up?"  
  
"Yesterday, when I was working, there was this guy who was dressed in all black, and I swear to God he was fucking spy or some shit. But he was _looking for you._ Then when I told him you weren't here he wanted me to give you this message." Alex spoke so fast that Josh had a little trouble understanding him.  
  
"Uh, Alex," Tyler stepped out from behind the counter and stood by him, "You alright? You don't look so good..."  
  
Alex's blond hair was a complete mess and large bags hung under his wide, frantic brown eyes. "No, I'm not alright! Some guy is probably trying to kill Josh and what if he comes after the rest of us as well?!"  
  
"What did he say?" Josh cautiously asked.  
  
Alex drew in a quick breath then red the note out loud. "Jesus Christ, Josh," Tyler looked his friend dead in the eyes, "Who the hell were you before I found you?"  
  
"I...I don't know," Josh shook his head, "But it must not have been good if I forced myself to forget it all."  
  
"Good, bad, what does it really matter?" Someone at the front door casually stated, talking with his hands a bit.  
  
They all turned to look at who entered the store and Alex gave a horrified gasp, stumbling back a step. "That's him," Alex whispered, not daring to take his eyes off Jack.  
  
"Good news, Josh," Jack clasped his hands together, "Apparently I'm not suppose to kill you."  
  
"What about my friends? You're not going to kill them either,  _are you?_ " Josh narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Heavens no!" Jack shook his head, "I wouldn't hurt those friends of yours, well, unless they were to attack me. After all, a gal's gotta defend herself."  
  
There was a slight silence then Jack cleared his throat, "So, Josh, how are we going to do this? Are you going to come with me easily or are you going to be difficult?"  
  
"Wait," Josh held up one of his hands, looking directly at the man in all black, "First, tell me who you are and what did I ever do that you need me so bad?"  
  
The man sighed, "If you must know, I'm Jack, and what do  _I_ want from you? Not a damn thing. It's people higher up than me who wants something from you."  
  
"And what's that?" Josh asked.  
  
"He the hell would I know? I'm just supposed to deliver you," Jack shook his head. "However, they didn't say what state you had to be in. They just said you had to be alive."  
  
Josh pierced his lips, looked from Tyler to Alex, then back to Jack, "I'm not going with you until someone tells me what's really going on."  
  
"It's a shame I don't have time to gather that information," Jack sighed, then looked directly at Josh. There was a moment in Jack's eyes where a purple ribbon seemed to swim within the brown irises.   
  
Not even a second later, an invisible forced was cast over Josh as he felt as if his insides were being twisted and distorted from their original state. He wrapped his arms around his stomach and knelt down to the ground, desperately tying to stop the pain that was beginning to consuming him. When Josh began coughing up blood, Tyler rushed to his friend's side to try to comfort him in some way. "Stop! You're hurting him!" Alex shouted, gaining enough courage to take a step forward.  
  
"That's kind of the point, kid," Jack said without taking his eyes off Josh.  
  
"No," Josh shakily stood up, wiping some of the blood from his lip with the back of his hand, "You're not going to best me, Jack. It's going to take a lot more than a few stomach pains to bring me down."  
  
The purple ribbon swirled through Jack's eyes once more as he released Josh from his invisible grasp. "So be it," he stated and reached down, pulling an eight inch long knife from each of his boots, "Let's see how well you can defend yourself then."  
  
Jack threw his left knife, aiming at Josh's right arm. Josh gasped and threw his hands up in front of him as if he was shielding himself from the blade. To his amazement, the blade was suddenly frozen in the air, less than a  foot from his arm. "How the hell did you do that?" Tyler asked, gawking at the floating knife.  
  
"I...I don't know..." Josh shook his head, slowly lowering his hands only to have the blade fall to the floor, making a thud as the metal hit the carpet.  
  
"Uh, I've had enough of this!" Jack hissed and did something unexpected, he teleported to where his knife lay, picked it up pushed the tip to Josh's throat, pointing the other blade at Josh's friends, "He's coming with me, and there's  _nothing_ you can do about it."  
  
"I don't know about nothing," an unknown voice echoed around them.  
  
Jack's eyes darted all around the book store, but still he kept the blade pointed to Josh's throat. "Oh yeah? And why is that?" Jack sneered, still unsure on where to look.  
  
"Because," the voice finally emerged from behind a shelf of books, the person pulled down their black hood to reveal a man who appeared slightly younger than them. His black hair seemed a bit messed up from the black hood and his hazel eyes were staring emotionlessly at Jack. His baggy black outfit with the red and white ties almost gave him the appearance of a ninja. "My brother is getting pretty sick of hearing about his second in command man that kidnapped and forced around everywhere. So now that I finally found him, I guess it's time to take him back."  
  
"Mikey," Jack snarled, "I should have known you'd end up following me here."  
  
Pulling out a long, transparent silvery blade, he kept unsheathed in a holder on his back, he said, "If you didn't want me here, then you should have done a better job on covering your tracks."  
  
Jack made another hissing sound, shoved Josh down to the ground and launched himself at Mikey, both blades pointed strait at him. The sound of Jack's blades clashing over Mikey's echoed through out the whole store. Tyler and Alex both crept over to Josh who was fixing himself in to a sitting position, holding the side of his head after hitting it on the floor. "Again, I ask," Tyler whispered, "Who the hell were you before I found you?"  
  
"According to the ninja guy, I was some second in command guy to his brother?" Josh said, still unsure.  
  
"I know one thing for sure," Alex muttered.  
  
"What's that?" Tyler asked.  
  
"Joe is going to be pissed when he finds out what happened to his book store," Alex said, motioning to the fallen shelves and scattered books that littered the floor due to the fight.  
  
Through out the battle, Mikey managed to cut open Jack's right arm and just below his left knee. Not to mention all the bruises he manage to impact on Jack. However, Mikey wasn't in that good of shape either. He too accumulated a series of bruises as well as a large curved cut from his forehead to his cheek. A steady stream of blood seeped from the found, distorting the vision of his left eye.  
  
Jumping up, Mikey pushed his feet against Jack's chest, causing Jack to fly backwards against a bookshelf that crashed down to the ground. Regaining his balance, he rushed over to Jack and placed the tip of his blade to Jack's throat. "Enough," Mikey snarled, "Josh is coming back with me, back where be belongs. So sorry to say but you've failed this mission."  
  
Jack made a low hissing sound and tried to get up but was somehow stuck within the broken shelves. "Take him if you want," Jack spat, "But I guarantee this isn't the last time we'll cross paths. Next time we meet, no matter where we are, I  _will_ kill you."  
  
"Good luck, I'll be looking forward to it," Mikey laughed, sheathed his blade, then went over to Josh and grabbed his arm, "Come on, we have to get out of here before he manages to get himself out of that pile."  
  
"Just me?" Josh asked, glancing at Tyler and Alex.  
  
"Yeah, sorry, humans aren't allowed where we're going," Mikey admitted.  
  
"Why not?" Josh protested.  
  
"I don't know," Mikey shrugged, "Some kind of contract thing or whatever."  
  
"Oh," Josh frowned, looking down at the ground then quickly back up at Mikey, "Wait, does that mean I'm not human?"  
  
"Yeah, our species only looks like a human, which was good for you I guess, seeing how primitive this planet is," Mikey said, "But we don't have time this, we have to go."  
  
Pulling on Josh's arm, Josh managed to get a quick good bye to his friends before Mikey quickly led him out of the store, leaving Tyler and Alex to defend for themselves, back turned to Jack. "Well, that just happened," Tyler said after a bit, braking the uneasy silence between the two.  
  
"Yup," Alex nodded, "But what are we going to tell Joe when he sees what happened to his store?"  
  
Tyler opened his mouth to answer but was silenced when a sharp needle was forced into the back of his and Alex's necks. A transparent blue substance was pushed down through the injection wound, causing the two to immediately start to feel a little dizzy. "You won't have to worry about that," Jack whispered between the two, "Because you won't be around to tell him."  
  
Both Tyler and Alex fought to stay awake, fearful if they'll ever be able to wake again. But the injection was becoming too much for them, and seconds later their legs couldn't hold the up anymore and slipped into unconsciousness before they his the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

"Where are we going?" Josh asked, looking around the abandoned lot Mikey led him to.  
  
Mikey answered by pushing a button on a slim metal bracelet that deactivated a n invisible cloak that revealed a silver space craft about the size of a small shed. Due to it's size, Josh could tell that it was only meant for a maximum of two people. "Are humans really banned from the planet or did you just not have enough room in your ship?" Josh asked, turning to Mikey.  
  
"What did you expect me to say," Mikey shrugged, "'Sorry, there's no room, get your sorry asses out of my ship'? That's a bit rude, don't you think?"  
  
When Josh didn't respond, Mikey sighed and opened the door that led to the drivers seat. "Go on the other side," Mikey commanded, "There's another door, you can let yourself in."  
  
Josh nodded and searched for the door leading inside. Thankfully, the latch was as complicated as opening a car door handle. Once inside, Josh strapped himself in and asked, "Now will you tell me what I am?"  
  
"You and I both belong to a race known as the Pelmos," Mikey answered, flicking on a few switches above them. "We're sort of a 'rebel race' who broke away from another race known as Kelmits. They are trying to take control of the universe. The universe is a pretty big place so this process has been going on for a few hundred generations. However, when this plan first began, a group of Kelmits wanted nothing to do with their race's plans for universal domination and broke away, escaping from the planet. This croup called themselves Pelmos, which is old Kelmit for 'resist'. Through out the ages, the Pelmos began to evolve from their previous race."  
  
By now Mikey's spacecraft was ready to take off. Pulling a lever near the split steering wheel, the spacecraft rose from the ground and after a second of angling, it shot right into the sky. Josh was bracing himself as they shot through the Earth's atmosphere, due to how great the gravity was. Once they were in the empty vacuum of space, Josh relaxed from his tense state, earning a small chucking from Mikey. "What?" Josh demanded.  
  
"Nothing," Mikey shook his head, "It's just you used to fly these things all the time. Sometimes ones much bigger and others that were more suitable for battle. And here you are, tensing up due to a lift off."  
  
"Oh..." Josh mumbled, then glanced out his window, then became completely starstruck by the planets and small asteroids that occasionally passed them. "When you said our species evolved, what did you mean by that?"  
  
"Hang on," Mikey said pushing a teal button to the left of the steering wheel. "I'll answer once I reactivate the wormhole."  
  
On a small touch screen on the counsel between the two, Mikey punched in a few symbols that Josh felt like he recognized but couldn't quite make them out. When Mikey finished the eight digit code, out in space a criss-cross pattern of teal electrical jolts formed in from of them, opening up a swirling blue and green vortex. "Guessing that's the wormhole?" Josh stated.  
  
"Sure is," Mikey said, accelerating towards the vortex. "Going through this is a lot easier and faster than just plain old flying their."  
  
Once inside the wormhole, the whole inside of the ship was cast into a swirling blue and green light. "Whoa," Josh whispered, watching over the inside walls of the wormhole that appeared to be made of massive green and blue clouds that spiraled around them.  
  
"It's pretty crazy, huh?" Mikey commented. "So anyways, both the Kelmits and the Pelmos have the ability to mentally inflict pain on others, but not for very long or else they would burn up their brain. It's quite a nasty phenomenon when it does occur so we make sure to use the process wisely. Another thing we can all do is teleport, but only if we can see where our destination is."  
  
"I remember Jack did both of those things back at the book store," Josh noted.  
  
Mikey nodded, then continued, "However, once the Pelmos' broke off of the Kelmits, they found the abandoned planet of Ayma, where we're actually heading to right now. Anyways, due to the highly rich and docile environment of Ayma, compared to the ashy, rugged one of Jaglis, our ancestors were able to thrive, adapt and grow. Through out the generations, we gained the ability to turn invisible if we wish, as well as the ability to move objects with our mind. Something I believe you figured out back at the store, am I correct?"  
  
"I...I think so," Josh agreed, remembering how he stopped the knife in mid air.  
  
The rest of the ride they sat in silence, which was only about a minute. But in that time Josh continued to watch the blue and green clouds as they made their way though out the tunnel. After hearing three ticks from the touch screen in between them, Mikey pressed the teal button once more and guided the spacecraft through the exit that opened ahead of them.  
  
By the time they left the wormhole, a planet came into view within the darkness of space. The planet appeared to be made of silver with bright blue rivers that laced across the surface. "Is that Ayma?" Josh asked, his gaze transfixed on the shimmering planet.  
  
"Sure is," Mikey said as he began slowing the ship's pace as they grew closer to the planet.  
  
Entering the planet's atmosphere, Josh began noticing a series of golden specks that peppered the planet's surface. As they got closer, he could tell some of the specks were much larger than others. Once they neared the surface, he could tell all those golden specks that varied in size and shape were in fact buildings. "Wow," Josh admired one of the pointed, larger buildings that towered over the rest. "Are all these buildings made of gold?"  
  
"Made of gold?" Mikey looked at him confused, "I suppose, in contrast that an object is made out of it's color. Meaning your hair is made of red and this button is made of teal."  
  
"No no no," Josh shook his head, "I mean gold, as in the substance or element."  
  
Mikey made a soft snorting noise, "You sure picked up some weird things from your year on Earth."  
  
"Are years on Earth about the same length as the years on Ayma?" Josh asked out of curiosity.  
  
"That depends, how long is one Earth year?"  
  
"365 days."  
  
"Well, that means that we have..." Mikey paused for a moment to make a quick calculation, "79 more days in a year than Earth."  
  
Josh nodded in response and watched out the window as Mikey landed behind one of the great buildings inside a ring of grey columns that made a large wishbone shape at the top pointing up towards the sky. At the two tips of each of the trees, a series of pink strings came together as a tassel and flowed downwards, gently swaying in the soft breeze. "Are those trees?" Josh asked, looking at the grey columns.  
  
"Nothing gets past you, does it?" Mikey joked, turning off the ship. "Now come on, my brother's gonna be relieved to know that you're still alive."  
  
Climbing out of the ship, Josh followed Mikey through the ring of wishbone trees onto the orange stone path that lead to what Mikey said was the Palace. Stepping through the tall, golden doors, they stepping into a long hall with polished white floors and walls that blended into waves of black to white and back to black. Across the center of the hallway lay a long, narrow sapphire blue rug stretched across the floor. At the end of the hall was two more large doors. Their surface was a pale white with a golden serpent in a spiral in the center of each door. "What does this stand for?" Josh asked, tracing the rugged surface of the golden snake.  
  
"It's a Calmic," Mikey answered, staring at the snake, "There's a legend of our people that says long ago when our ancestors were fleeing from the rising empire, they were nearly captured by the Ancient Tyrant, as he was referred to as. And if he was to step any closer, he may have discovered where our ancestors were hiding. According to the legend, from within a pile of fallen rocks near the part of the cave where they were hidden, a Calmic slithered out and coiled itself around the Ancient Tyrant's leg, distracting him long enough for our ancestors to get away. Though it ended up paying with its life, for the Ancient Tyrant was a very cruel man, it still helped them get away. And for that sacrifice, we will always honor it as the symbol of our people."  
  
"So they're symbols of good?" Josh asked, resting his fingers on its head for a second before dropping his hand, remembering how on Earth, a serpent would mean evil for many legends.

Mikey nodded when Josh glanced over at him, “Even in older legends, the Calmic has appeared to help those in need from the destruction of a harsher force.”

“That’s cool,” Josh said, “So what’s behind the door?”

“Cool?” Mikey looked at him as if he was nuts, “I’m assuming that’s some Earth slang you picked up… Behind the door? That would be my brother, known to others as ‘the leader of the Palmos’.”

Mikey grabbed hold of the black door handles and pushed the large doors open to reveal a large, windowless room with grey walls and the same polished, white floor. Against the left wall hung several monitors, all displaying a different location Josh couldn’t quite recognize. The wall to the right had another door leading to an unknown location while the rest of the wall was covered in bookshelves stacked high with books of different sizes and colors. Stepping into the room, Josh realized the wall where the door they entered was set up the same way, covered in bookshelves. The back wall had a few sapphire blue couches and tables pressed up against the wall. Painted on the center of the grey wall was a large, golden Calmic, watching over the entire room. In the center of the room was a black, rectangular desk with a large screen engraved inside the surface. “Gerard?!” Mikey called out, “Where ever could you be?”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” someone irritably said from the other room, “What do you…want?”

Stepping out of the side room, Gerard paused when he caught sight of Josh, Lowering the black hood of his cloak, revealing his short, bleached white hair, he stared at Josh in disbelief, “Where…how did you find him?”

“When I hacked into the Kelmit’s mainframe, I was in a bit of a right trying to beat the guards that were lingering around the area. But out of the files I managed to snag, one of them was an order for ‘Jack Barakat to terminate Josh Dun’. Thankfully, for me at least, the file also contained information on where Josh was located. Halfway their and the message changed from ‘terminate’ to ‘retrieve’. But still, I knew I had to hurry because if you ever heard of Jack’s methods, even on a retrieval mission, he’s still going to leave you with a few permanent scars. Soon after I got to Earth, I went to find Josh, only to find Jack had found him first. After a bit of a battle with Jack, I eventually got Josh away to bring him here. But we still have one problem, Josh doesn’t remember anything other than his name and his year on Earth.”

Gerard was silent for a while as he processed all that Mikey had told him. Eventually, he spoke, “The Kelmits must have done something to your head, Josh. Are you sure you don’t remember anything?”

“Well…” Josh started, looking down at the ground then back up at Gerard, “I’ve been having these dreams. In the ones where I could see, it seemed like I was in some kind of prison, or being experiment on or tortured or something…”

“Perhaps they’re old memories trying to flood back into his head,” Mikey suggested.

“If that’s the case, then we’re going to have to analyze your dreams until we can figure out what happened to you,” Gerard said, rolling up his right sleeve to reveal a bracelet similar to Mikey’s, then pressed one of the buttons and spoke, “Frank? How busy are you right now?”

“Not very,” Frank responded almost immediately, “Why?”

“I have someone here in the main room who somehow acquired amnesia. I would also like to have is dreams scanned,” Gerard answered.

“Alright, I’ll get their as soon a I can, just let me gather my shit,” and with that, Gerard ended the call.

“Josh, why don’t you have a seat over their,” Gerard pointed to the wall with the chairs and tables, “While we wait for Frank.”

Josh nodded and went over to choose a chair to sit on. “Mikey,” Gerard said sternly, “Come with me, I need to show you something in Segment Fae.”

-*-*-

“I’m assuming you’re calling because you got him?” Patrick asked as soon as Jack called.

“Not exactly,” Jack spoke harshly, “That little pest, Mikey, got in the way.”

“And he beat you?”

“He thinks he did,” Jack made a small grin, “But I quickly thought of a plan two during our little skirmish.”

“Oh? And what would that be?” Patrick asked.

“Let’s just say, in order to trap someone, you need to find the right bait,” Jack said, then turned around to observe his two captives, Tyler and Alex, who were sitting on the floor of his spacecraft, separately bound to the wall by a dark purple chain circling each of their waists while glowing purple rings bound their writs and ankles together.

“I see,” Patrick said, “ Well, whatever you do, good luck.”


	4. Chapter 4

"Here I am, no need to worry," a man shorter than the rest with dark brown hair announced, walking over to Gerard and Mikey who were still discussing something amongst themselves. "So who is it you wanted me to check up on?"  
  
"Right this way, Frank," Gerard said, walking into the main room.  
  
Grasping hold of the handles of the metallic cart, Frank pushed it into the room where the two brothers had entered. Mikey and Gerard were standing side by side in the middle of the room, facing Frank. "I feel the need to be suspicious right now," Frank frowned.  
  
Gerard shook his head, "No need at all. Josh, would you please step forward."  
  
Giving a small nod, even though where he was sitting, no one could see him, Josh stood up and went over by Gerard, earning a surprised expression from Frank. "W...welcome back sir," Frank dipped his head in respect then looked back at Gerard. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get him back in such a...stable condition?"  
  
"We don't know what they did to him, but whatever did happen, he can't remember any of it," Gerard said. "However, he did say that he's been having dreams that may be flashbacks of what happened to him."  
  
"So that's why you had me haul this thing up here," Frank muttered, looking over at the silver cart.  
  
Gerard nodded to which Frank responded by pressing a grey button on the end of the cart's handle causing the center of the cart to split in half and something that resembled a large nozzle of a hose with a pointed tip rose up from the center. One on side, there was a control center with various buttons and switches, while the other side rested a headpiece that reminded Josh of the thing Charles Xavier put onto his head in Cerebro to look for mutants. The only difference was the lack of any wires and the bright blue gem stone that sat in the area that would cover the center of the forehead. "Alright," Frank switched on two of the switches, causing them to omit a soft, pink glow. "Josh, put that thing on your head," Frank said pointing at the headgear.  
  
"That thing," Mikey mocked as Josh picked it up, "Very scientific."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry Mikey. I didn't realize you were more qualified for this than I," Frank sassed, looking over at Gerard's brother.  
  
"...Shut up," Mikey frowned, crossing his arms.  
  
"So, do I just put it on my head, like this?" Josh asked, angling the headpiece on his head so it wouldn't be lopsided.  
  
"What?" Frank asked looking over at Josh, "Oh yeah, that's good."  
  
Turning on another two switches, the blue gem lit up and a white sphere of light was transmitted above the point of the nozzle. "Before we begin," Frank said, looking back over at Josh, "If we come across any of those dreams that you wouldn't want anyone to see due to them being a little...er...explicit, just say 'skip' and I'll switch to the next one."  
  
"Oh, well," Josh rubbed the back of his neck and looked nervously at the floor, "I don't believe I've had any of those dreams. At least none that I can remember..."  
  
"Alright," Frank nodded, "Then let's begin. You may feel a bit of a pinch."  
  
Pressing a series of buttons, Josh gasped and his eyes grew wide as an electrical current genitally passed over his mind, working their way into Josh's memories of his unconscious state. After a few seconds of the pulse probing his mind, the white ball of light turned black and a voice began transmitting from the imageless orb. "You know why you're here, don't you?"  
  
"I remember this one," Josh said, "I dreamt this only two nights ago."  
  
Gerard didn't respond, but rather seemed to be transfixed on the black orb. "I recognize that voice," Mikey said, breaking the silence between the four.  
  
"So do I," Frank said, turning to Mikey and Gerard, "But I can't seem to recognize who it belongs to."  
  
"If I'm correct," Gerard spoke coldly, "That would be Mike Dirnt, or Billie's second-in-command. Figures Billie would have Mike doing that to Josh. He was in the Assassins Guild before he gained his second in command title. And torture was one of his more well known acts."  
  
"I could tell, from what I remembered feeling from the dream," Josh said.  
  
Gerard nodded, "Switch to the next one, Frank."  
  
"Sure thing," Frank said pressing one of the buttons causing the orb to regain some color. Green and brown colors were appearing until it showed an image of the ground on Earth with a long creature with hundreds of small legs crawling across the ground. "What the the hell is that thing?" Mikey asked, confused by the multilegged creature.  
  
"That's a...centipede," Josh answered, watching as the insect began crawling up a random bookshelf in the middle of the forest. "But I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with what you're looking for."  
  
"Hey ho little traveler," said something from in the bookshelf, "Care to try one of my books?"  
  
"You can just skip this one," Josh said, watching as one of the books opened to reveal a bright light being omitted from the pages. "Seriously, I believe this was the result of Tyler showing me some messed up videos on the internet."  
  
"Alright," Frank sighed and switched to the next dream.  
  
The bright light from the book faded from the orb and was replaced buy a dull light where you could barely make out anything. "Look who I found outside," a voice that unmistakably belonged to Jack's said to whoever he was standing with.   
  
By now, it could be made out that dream Josh was in a cell and that there were two men standing by his cell. The only thing that could be made out of the second one was his orangish blond hair and this his outfit seemed to be virtually identical to Jack's, seeing as the other man was facing away from Josh. "When you say he was outside..." the other man began.  
  
"I mean he probably had something to do with that group of Palmos' from before," Jack answered.  
  
"Are you going to tell someone higher up you found him?"  
  
"Well, you are my boss and all...But I thinking that I'd just leave him in here until someone finds him," Josh said sarcastically, then shook his head, "Come on Patrick, I"m not  _that_ stupid. He's second in command for the Pelmos race, the race that's been one of the most common enemies of our species for how long."  
  
Patrick nodded, "That's true. I'll go alert Billie of our current situation, since 'I'm your boss and all'."  
  
At that moment, the dream faded and there were two different people standing by the cell. The only thing that could be seen of them was that both of them were wearing a pair of shiny, black shoes. As they talked, the image rose so the four people watching the orb could see the two men's faces. They both wore sleek black suits with white shirts underneath with red ties hanging from around their necks. The only difference between their outfits was the black x with a small spot in all four sections that appeared to be branded into the shorter one's forehead. "What's that on his forehead?" Josh whispered as if he didn't want to disrupt anyone.  
  
"On Billie's you mean? It's called an Insanic," Gerard said, "It's something the leader of the Kelmits gets singed onto their foreheads."  
  
"That sounds painful," Josh cringed, imagining something being burnt onto his own forehead.  
  
"I imagine it would be," Gerard nodded, "But they do that because it's suppose to represent their courage and bravery for being able to lead their people. They say if the future leader can't bear the pain, it means they aren't fit to become the leader."  
  
"I'm sure you're glad our ancestors didn't carry on that tradition," Mikey smirked, "You probably wouldn't have been able to handle it."  
  
Gerard rolled his eyes and returned his attention back to the orb. "Ah, I see he's finally awake," the shorter one grinned, "Welcome to our planet, Josh. We hope you enjoy your stay because you're going to be here for quite some time."  
  
The taller one turned and whispered something to Billie, to which he nodded, causing his fluffy black hair to shake a bit. "Mike here has brought up an excellent idea," he began, "Seeing how on Ayma you were so used to giving orders of your own, I have some reasons to believe that you're not very good at following orders that are _given_ to you. Well, other than the orders from Gerard. So with that in mind, Mike is going to help with changing that so you'll be able to bend to our will and do whatever I command you to do."  
  
"It won't matter how mentally strong you are," Mike shrugged, "it may take a while but everyone has a breaking point."  
  
The dream had just began to fade out when someone with black hair and skin slightly darker than the others rushed into the room. "Sir," he began as he stopped in front of Gerard, "We're getting a transmission from an unknown source. They're refusing to show their face or say who they are until they get linked to you."  
  
Gerard was silent for a moment, debating whether or not to allow the request to pass. He opened his mouth to respond, only to have one of the monitor screens produce a loud crackling noise for a second then the image of the static became replaced by a live feed of Jack's face."Sorry for not waiting for permission, but I just had to know if Josh was here."  
  
Gerard angerly pierced his lips looking at Jack, then without turning away from the screen, he whispered, "Pete, I need you guys to try and trace back the signal. I don't want that maniac anywhere near this planet."  
  
"Yes sir," Pete dipped his head and ran off.  
  
"Who was that?" Jack frowned, watching as Pete ran off, "Didn't want him to be part of our discussion?"  
  
Gerard slowly shook his head, "He's no one you need to know about."  
  
"Ah, so he's one of your precious little servants," Jack paused to look over at something to his right, then looked back into the room as he continued, "Josh, I figured Mikey would've brought you back here. Nice hat by the way."  
  
By now, Frank had already deactivated the orb so there was no light was emitting form the nozzle. Without saying anything, Josh removed the headpiece and handed it back to Frank who packed everything up but still remained where he stood. "Oh, I'm sorry, I seem to have interrupted something, didn't I," Jack frowned.  
  
"Not at all," Gerard said harshly, "What do you want, Jack?"  
  
"Well, you see," Jack closed his eyes for a moment, then spoke flatly, "I'm going to need Josh back."  
  
"He was never yours in the first place," Mikey stated.  
  
"Mikey, quiet," Gerard warned, "Why do you need him so bad? What is he to you?"  
  
"Honestly?" Jack began, "He's nothing more to me than just another victim. But to Mike and Billie? They have some plans for him. So for their sake, I need Josh to come back with me."  
  
"And what if I refuse?" Josh stepped forward.  
  
A small smirk appeared on Jack's face, "I was waiting for you to say that. Because if you don't come with me, then I'll have to kill these two friends of yours."  
  
Turning the camera, Jack reveled Tyler and Alex who were still in restraints but were now gagged so all they could do when they saw Josh was squirm around and try to make some kind of noise that just may reach Josh. Turning the cameras back to where it was positioned before, Jack continued, "Yeah, so I had to gag them because they  _would not shut up_. Anyways, I'll organize a little deal with you: Josh comes with me and I'll set these two humans free. But if not, then I'll kill them, nice and slow, because maybe then you'll change your mind. I'll give you some time to think it over."  
  
Jack then switched off the transmission, leaving the room in an eerie silence. Gerard inhaled then said, "Alright, let's conciser the facts. First, who are those two Jack has captive?"  
  
"Tyler and Alex," Josh responded, "They're my friends."  
  
"How important are they?" Gerard asked.  
  
"What...what do you mean?"   
  
"What I'm asking is how important are they to their planet, or are they just some random people who wouldn't be missed by hundreds or thousands of people if they were to perish."  
  
Josh was completely silent for a moment, staring at Gerard with an expression mixed with complete shock, confusion and fury. "Who the hell do you think you are, Gerard? You're here saying you're the ruler of these people, but yet when there's two people who are on the brink of death, you're just going to push them away? So what if they're not the same species as us? They're completely innocent here and they wouldn't even be in this situation if I never befriended them! So I'm partly responsible for what's happening to them right now and I'm not going to just let them die without at least trying to save them!"  
  
"Josh, listen to me," Gerard snapped, "You are far too important to our people to just be throwing your life around like this. Last time I agreed to let you go out and try to help someone kidnapped by the Kelmits, this happened to you! We can't afford to loose you again."  
  
"What's the point of me being this 'important figure' anymore if I can't remember any of my life here?"  
  
Gerard paused, thinking over what to say, "We'll find a way to bring your memories back."  
  
"And what if you can't?" Josh challenged, "What if there's no way for my memories to come back? What are you going to do then?"  
  
Gerard shook his head in defeat, "Fine Josh, I give in. I don't suppose you have any plans on what we're supposed to do?"


	5. Chapter 5

"So kids," Jack spun around on his heels once the transmission ended to face his two prisoners, "What do you think your precious little friend will do? Will he save you? Will he be  _allowed_ to save you? You may never know."  
  
Tyler tried to say something, but the gag stuck in his mouth prevented any words from properly forming. "What's that?" Jack gasped, approaching the humans, "Are you trying to make alien contact? According to the primitive nature of your species, I don't think they're gonna look too kindly on that."  
  
Alex narrowed his eyes and tried to say something as well, causing Jack to laugh at their attempts. "You know what," Jack said a bit humorously, "i'll let you speak for now, get it all 'off your head' or however that phrase goes."  
  
Jack carefully removed their gags, because last time Jack's hand went by Alex's mouth, he ended up getting bit, and he wasn't going to take any more chances of that happening again. "Alright," Jack took a step back and crossed his arms, "What would you two like to say?"  
  
The two humans looked at each other, debating who should go first. Eventually it was Tyler who spoke, "Who the hell do you think you are? You just go and kidnap us, and bring us to god knows where. I mean, I don't even think we're in our own solar system! And...why do you need Josh so bad? Are you just trying to kill us all or..."  
  
"I'm gonna have to stop you there, kid," Jack shook his head, "How am I supposed to answer your questions if you don't give me a chance to answer any? How about, to prevent all this unnecessary questionnaires, every question that I answer, the person who asked it gets a little injury inflicted on them, just to make things more fun."  
  
As if to prove a point, he pulled out one of the knives that resigned in his leather boots, the pinched the center of the blade near the hilt and slowly made his way upwards to the tip, watching Tyler and Alex, "So, who's gonna ask the first question?"  
  
He could hear the soft whispering as the two debated on what to ask and who should ask it. Alex eventually convinced Tyler to let him ask the questions so Tyler's low pain tolerance wouldn't become so visible to the assassin. Alex drew in a deep breath, then asked, "If Josh does come, which he will, are you really going to bring us back to Earth, or was that all just a ruse to trick him into coming here?"  
  
"That is an excellent question," Jack took a step forward, crouched down by Alex and Tyler who were still in the sitting positions, and placed the tip of his knife to Alex's cheek. "But for now, I believe I'll keep my word, that is, unless you give me a  _reason_ to kill you."  
  
Alex squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the blade dig into his skin, slowly dragging downwards  leaving behind a two inch long mark by the time Jack pulled away. "Next question," Jack said cheerfully, not bothering to wipe the blood off the silver blade.  
  
"How much trouble would you get in if you were to just abandon this mission and just let us go, just leave everyone be?" Alex asked.  
  
Jack laughed at this question, "Really? That's what you chose to ask? Well, I suppose it's your skin. But just to amuse you, I suppose I could get into  _some_ trouble, I mean they seem pretty persistent for me to bring him back. But let's see, your next injury shall be...here," Quickly, Jack ran the blade along Alex's forearm, causing the red droplets to form around the arm hair.  
  
"What does your people want with Josh so badly," asked Alex once Jack turned away.  
  
Jack glanced over at Tyler who still remained silent, then back at Alex, "It's not my place to say what's going to happen to him, besides, I'm just supposed to deliver him. But Amix..."  
  
"Alex," he corrected.  
  
"Whatever, you seem to be doing a lot of the talking. Maybe you need a little help with giving your friend here a chance to speak." Placing the tip on Alex's lower lip, he pushed it downwards, creating a small gash. "Next time your little friend here talks."  
  
Alex was staring off into the back corner, mouth slightly open, silently trying to cast away the pain from the wounds. "Now, what was your name again? Just so I don't," Jack quickly glanced over at Alex, "Get it wrong."  
  
"Tyler," he managed to say.  
  
"Alright Tyler, ask me a question," Jack softly urged crouching down so they'd be at eye level as if he was talking to a child.  
  
"I...I wouldn't know what to ask," Tyler stammered.  
  
"Or maybe you're just scared of a little pain," Jack smirked when Tyler looked down at his captivated wrists, "That's it, isn't it?"  
  
"Leave him alone," Alex snapped.  
  
"Hey, I didn't ask you," Jack hissed, pointed the tip of the knife to Alex's throat, then less harsher he asked, "You can speak once Tyler asks his question."  
  
"No," Alex spoke softly when Jack turned back to Tyler.  
  
"What was that?" Jack asked, sounding as if he couldn't believe what Alex was saying.  
  
"No," Alex repeated, this time more forcefully, "I'm not going to let you control me, no matter who you are."  
  
Jack had to admit, the human  _did_ have some courage for someone who seemed so scared only a few hours ago, but it was quite a stupid idea to talk back to an assassin though. They aren't known for letting people go that easily. "Let me ask you something," Jack walked over to the series of closed off cubby holes and searched through them until he found the wiry collar and remote that went with it, "Have you ever heard of a creature called the Bilamut?"  
  
Alex slowly shook his head, almost curious to see where this was leading too. "I suppose you're a bit lucky on that one. They're about the size of a large...what's the name of those creatures you humans keep as pets, four legs, usually furry...dows?"  
  
"Dogs?" Alex suggested.  
  
"Ah yes, that's it. Anyways, a Bilamut is like a dog, but much much more brutal. They wander around my home planet, Jaylis, and have caused probably millions and millions of deaths since they've inhabited the planet and..."  
  
"Then why don't you go find one and make that millions and millions and one," Alex spoke harshly.  
  
"Nah," Jack shook his head, amused by Alex's interruption, "Not how I'll choose to die. Anyways, due to these creature's sadistic nature, some people have gone to the point where they've tried to make them a 'pet' of theirs. Many fail of course, but those who do end up taming one usually use them in battle or hunting or murder or whatever. But the only way to domesticate them to do what you, and only you, say is to apply this high voltage collar around their fluffy necks. I once had one of them, I named her Jinq due to how ruthless she was. But she was my best friend for a while until one of my missions went wrong... But the point of the story is to prove how this simple device I hold in my hand can crumple even the strongest beast. And you, my dear Alex, are nothing to be compared to a Bilamut."  
  
"You better get that fucking thing away from me," Alex spat, trying to scoot away from Jack who had undone the clip on the collar was now approaching Alex. "I'm not a dog you're trying to tame."  
  
"What are you going to do?" Jack sneered, roughly pushing Alex's head against the metal wall, "Bite me? Sorry to break it to you kid, but I learn from my mistakes."  
  
Eventually Jack got the wiry collar around Alex's neck and stood up, glancing over at Tyler. "So Tyler, " Jack tossed the remote for the collar in the air then caught it, "You got any questions?"  
  
Tyler looked over at Alex who giving Jack a death glare that Jack, of course, was ignoring, trying to get any idea of what to ask him. "Speechless, hu?" Jack scratched at an ear and looked around, "You weren't so fond of this silence before when I first asked you for a question."  
  
"I...I'm just...not sure what...to ask," Tyler stammered, obviously scared out of his mind, "I mean...I'm sure Alex asked all the...possible questions I could think of... So I...just don't know what to ask."  
  
"Mhm," Jack nodded, "Or maybe you just need a bit of motivation.  
  
"What do you mean?" Tyler asked, afraid of what may happen.  
  
"I'll stop once the question is asked."  
  
But before Tyler could even begin to ask what he meant, Jack had pressed a button on the remote, causing a buzzing sound to emit from Alex's collar, making him to twitch and shake as the current rolled throughout his body. "Stop!" Tyler shouted, "You're going to kill him!"  
  
"Then ask a question," Jack hissed.  
  
Tyler shakily inhaled, then thought of a question, a stupid question, but drastic times call for drastic measures, right? "Why did you choose to become an assassin or whatever you are?" Tyler quickly asked.  
  
This wasn't the question Jack was looking for, but it was still a question nevertheless, so he turned off the electrical pulse that flowed through Alex's body. "While growing up, I, as well as every other kid on my planet, is sent through Factulation, which assesses your abilities and skills and trains you for your future obligation. So because of that, I never got to choose what I did because this is what I was good at, so this is what I was trained to become. Come graduation, the newly appointed people of the Assassins Guild get a chip inserted right here," Picking up his blade, he pressed the tip right in front of Tyler's left ear, right against the bone. "The process is actually quite painful due to the chip being inserted right through the skull, but you're not allowed to show any pain because it's supposed to prepare you for all the pain you may accumulate in the future. But I wonder how you would react to the tip of my knife just sliding down against your skull..."  
  
Tyler tried desperately to wiggle away from the knife, but the restraints only allowed him to move his head to the side. "Aw come on," Jack whispered, making the incision along Tyler's head, "I was forced through a lot worse."  
  
Tyler was trying his hardest to keep his mouth shut so no sounds would end up escaping, even though a few soft, painful squeaks managed to emerge. Getting back up once Jack was finished with the mark, he turned around and wiped the blood from the knife with an old rag that was laying in one of the compartments. "So glad we could all work together on this," Jack said, slipping the weapon back into his boot. "We can begin the questions again another time, hopefully."  
  
Alex, who was still recovering from the effects of the collar weakly said, "Yeah, I'm sure you'd like that, you sick bastard. I'm sure you gain great pleasure from torturing us as well."  
  
"Alex, stop," Tyler whispered, concerned that Jack's going to do something severely worse this time.  
  
"Oh, don't worry, I'll make him stop," Jack hissed, pressing the button on the remote, causing Alex to seize up once more as the electricity flowed through him.  
  
Jack only held the button for a second that time, but by now Alex's face appeared completely pale once the button was released. "Anything else you'd like to add?" Jack asked, looking from Alex to Tyler.  
  
Tyler quickly shook his head, answering for them both. "Good," Jack grumbled, going back to the controls.  
  
-*-*-  
  
"Do you really think all five of us will be able to take him down?" Pete asked Josh, looking around at his two team mates as well as Josh and Mikey.  
  
"I'm sure we can," Josh shrugged, "I mean, he's only one person."  
  
"Not to be rude, Josh," the one Pete introduced as Tré spoke, "But you don't exactly remember all that Jack is capable of."  
  
"Tré's right," Pete nodded, "You can't recall all the previous encounters we've had with Jack. He once took down a group of Felemas all by himself, and that isn't a race that many like to single highhandedly spar against. His tactics are not to be reckoned with."  
  
"I understand," Josh nodded, "But that's why we have the element of surprise. Rian, you've located where Jack's transmission came from, correct?"  
  
Rian nodded and pressed a button on the keyboard he was sitting by which caused a small blip to appear on the screen. "Do we have anything that could approach his ship without us being spotted?" Josh asked.  
  
"Not by the sensors," Pete responded, "But we do have stealth technology in a few models that he wouldn't he able to see with just his eyes."  
  
"Then we may need to set up a decoy craft so we can trick him," Josh suggested, "I don't suppose you have anything you could spare to distract him with, do you?"  
  
Pete shook his head, "None that work properly."  
  
"Hm," Josh paused, thinking over a plan on what to do next, "What if we convince him to come down here where we could then set up a trap to contain him, at least long enough to rescue Alex and Tyler."  
  
"And how do you suppose we go about trapping a highly skilled assassin?" Rian questioned.  
  
"Well..." Josh quickly racked his brain for an idea, "How about when Jack approaches, all for of you are hiding where he can't see you, but you can see him so you'll know what's going on. And when we know where Tyler and Alex are, and that they're safe, you four can do that telekinetic thing on him to hold him in place while I go get Tyler and Alex."  
  
"I suppose it could work," Pete shrugged, "We just have to hope he's alone and doesn't have any defenses against our abilities."  
  
"True," Josh nodded, "I'll be sure to be quick just in case. So I suppose we should give Jack a call."  
  
"And by us, you mean Gerard and you, right?" Pete conformed, "Because it would be a bit suspicious if we were all present in the transmission."  
  
"Of course," Josh said, "That's what I meant."


	6. Chapter 6

Neither Tyler, nor Alex spoke a single word out loud, instead they just kept exchanging various expressions as their own form of communication. Meanwhile, Jack was leaning back on the pilot's chair with his feet up on the council playing with his fingers. Three beeping sounds omitted from the biggest screen on the ship as a spiral began circling the center. "Look at this," Jack put his feet down and looked over at the humans, "I guess we're gonna find out what your fate shall be."

Pressing a grey, square button, the spiral opened up to reveal the faces of Gerard and Josh. "Why hello," Jack cheerfully greeted, despite the neutral looks on the other's faces.

"Cut the crap," Gerard spoke sourly.

"I'll go with you," Josh said sternly, "But you have to release Alex and Tyler to Gerard where someone here can take them home."

"What?" Jack asked in disbelief, "You mean you don't trust me?"

"No, we trust you completely," Gerard rolled his eyes, "We trust you _so_ much that we want to invite you to a lovely feast in your honor and sing all sorts of happy songs to you."

"Hm," Jack pierced his lips, "I do believe I scene some sarcasm in those words."

"What gave you that idea?" Gerard narrowed his eyes.

Jack shrugged, "Anyways, where do I get the pleasure of picking up little Josh?"

Without breaking his icy cold gaze, Gerard pressed a button on the bracelet and spoke sternly, "Send him the coordinates."

"Yes sir," they heard Pete respond.

"Why thank you," Jack said almost mockingly once he received the coordinates, "Hopefully I won't get lost."

Gerard made a 'mhm' sound as the transmission ended. "Alright, let's get this over with," Gerard muttered turning around and heading towards the room where the other four people were.

-*-*-

The coordinates that were sent to Jack led to a place similar to where Mikey parked his ship. There was a ring of trees and an orange path stretching to and from the castle. Josh and Gerard stood side by side, watching as Jack landed his narrow, pointed ship near the ring of grey stemmed trees. A bottom portion of Jack's ship, which revealed a set of metal steps, slid down until the bottom touched the soft, blue surface below. Three pairs of feet were lined up, walking down the steps with Jack's leather boots in the back.

When all three were out and standing in front of Gerard and Josh, Jack placed a hand on both the human's shoulders that were farthest away from each other. "So Josh," Jack smirked, "Finally deciding to come with, hu?"

"We made a deal, Jack," Gerard spoke coldly, "Let's get this over with so you can get your sorry ass off my planet."

"Ooo, aren't we a persistent one," Jack gave a small laugh, "Fine, here they are."

Raising his hands from their shoulders, Jack grabbed onto the hair on the back of their heads and pushed them forward, down to the ground. The two humans quickly got up and and scuttled over to Josh. "You're not really gonna go with him, are you?" Tyler whispered.

"I have no other choice, you guys are my best friends, I can't just let you suffer like that," Josh spoke softly.

"But what about you? We can't just let you go into the arms of that maniac," Alex said, motioning towards Jack who seemed to be impatiently waiting with a hand in his jacket pocket.

"What's that around your neck?" Josh asked, looking at the wiry collar.

Alex put two fingers on it then shook his head, "I don't want to talk about it.'

"Come on, hurry up. I don't have all day here," Jack groaned, rolling his head back, clearly becoming more impatient by the second.

"Fine," Josh snapped, slowly walking towards Jack.

Halfway in between Gerard and Jack, Josh gave a small nod that signaled for the four to use their abilities to freeze Jack where he stood. But Jack, figuring that he'd be walking into some sort of trap, formed a little trap of his own. As soon as he felt the pelmos' trying to freeze his body, his thumb pushed down on the button of the remote in his pocket, activating Alex's collar. By now, Jack couldn't take his thumb off of it even if he wanted to. Alex fell to the ground with his fingers latched onto the wires, trying to pry it off any way he could. "Why are you doing this to him?" Tyler shouted, "Josh is going with you, you don't have to do this!"

"He can't respond," Josh said quickly, going to Alex, "He's frozen like this." Looking up at Gerard, Josh looked at him and plead, "Gerard, please. Have them let Jack go. Alex won't be able to hold on much longer with all the electricity running through him. His heart will stop and he'll die."

Gerard was furious, but still tried to remain calm, "I knew something would go wrong. But did you guys listen to me? No, and now this planet has to loose you yet again because you couldn't ignore the lives of these two humans who have no importance to our people or their people or anyone else's people." By now his voice had risen louder than he would've liked, then shouted, "Release him!"

A second later, Jack was able to move again so he removed his thumb from the button, causing Alex to be released from the current's electrifying grip. Stretching his arms out, Jack gave a cruel smirk, "It's sure nice to move around again. So Josh, you ready to come with, or is there another surprise waiting for me?"

Jack slowly spun around with his arms out stretched, waiting for something more to happen, "Aw come one guys, I thought we were having fun here!"

"Knock it off," Josh shook his head, going up to Jack, "I'll go with you now, no more tricks. Just leave them all alone."

Jack put a hand on his own chest and smiled, "I'm so glad we could finally come to an agreement."

Without another word, Jack led Josh up the steps into his ship. Once inside, Jack pressed a button that caused the steps to ascend back into the ship, creating a flat surface once more. "So Josh," Jack clasped his hands together, "Are you gonna come with me easily, or are gonna be my little prisoner, causing me to chain you up and all that fun stuff like I did to your friends?"

Josh remained silent, but made no attempt to attack him. "Silent treatment? Alright, your choice, but you might want to buckle up instead of just standing there the whole ride."

-*-*-

Tre was the first to speak after Jack's ship lifted off, "Uh, sir, what should we do now?"

"What should we do now?" Gerard mocked, "How about someone invents a fucking time machine so they can go back and make sure that piece of shit was never born. Do the universe a favor."

As Gerard was beginning to walk off, Tyler softly asked, "If...you don't mind me asking, what were Alex and I supposed to do or go? I mean...we're not really from this planet and all..."

Pausing in his tracks, Gerard sighed and answered once Tyler trailed off, "I don't really care what you do. Pete, do something with the humans."

"Yes sir," Pete nodded.

Once Gerard was gone, Alex coughed and hoarsely asked, "Do you think anyone can get this thing off of me before it goes off again?"

Pete turned to Rian and said, "Hey, can you go get some kind of wire cutters and something to stabilize the current, I'm not sure how stable that thing really is."

"Alright," Rian said as he went off to collect the items.

-*-*-

At some point of the trip, Josh got sick of stumbling around and made his way to the open chair, buckling himself in. "I told you buckling up would be a better choice."

"Shut up," Josh muttered, looking out the window, away from Jack.

After Josh had sit down, the rest of the ride was rather sooth which led him to believe that Jack was purposely rocking the ship around. The journey to Jack's planet involved passing through another wormhole, but his time Josh kept his amazement of the surroundings to himself. When they exited the wormhole and the blue and green tint had faded from everything around, a smokey red and purple planet came into view. It appeared bigger and darker than the previous planet, despite all the fire that seemed to come up from the ground.

Upon entering the orbit of the planet, Jack halted the ship and pressed a few buttons on the touchscreen that seemed similar to Mikey's. After three beeps, a live image of who Josh remember Gerard calling Billie, appeared on the screen. "Look who's coming home with me," Jack said proudly, grabbing hold of Josh's scarlet hair and shoving him a little closer to the screen.

"What the hell man," Josh flinched, trying to pry Jack's hand off his hair, "I'm sitting _right_ here, you don't have to pull my hair out in the posses of introducing me."

From the screen, Billie let out a laugh and said, "Sorry about that, he seems to do it a lot."

"I can tell," Josh frowned, rubbing his head once Jack let go, remembering how Jack latched onto Tyler and Alex's hair not too long ago. At least he didn't throw him against anything.

"So Josh," Billie began, clasping his hands together, "How's your memory coming along?"

"Wha..." Josh paused for a moment then gave a soft gasp, "It was you who took away my memories, wasn't it?"

"Actually, that was me, " a taller, blond man Gerard referred to as Mike appeared on the screen, giving a small wave, "Well, technically you're the one who took away your memories. You just ended up escaping before we could reactivate them for you."

"Why would I choose to forget everything I know?" Josh asked.

Billie shrugged, "Who knows, maybe you just wanted to stir up some trouble, or maybe you had a troubling past that you didn't want to remember anymore. Or maybe it had something to do with what Mike did to your head that caused you to serve for us once the chip is activated, and leaving behind all your memories was the only way to get away. But hey, who knows."

"You didn't think that me fetching you would favor your way, did you?" Jack asked from behind, grabbing hold of Josh's wrists and restraining them behind his back with the same kind of purple ring that Jack used on Tyler and Alex.

"Welcome back, Josh," Billie smirked, "We'll get rid of your amnesia problem real soon."

-*-*-

When Jack gained clearance to land on the planet, they were greeted by two men Jack referred to as Andy and Ray. "See you finally got him," Andy said.

"Yeah, the route to get him was a bit more complicated than I thought it would be, but in the end I still got him."

"You always seem to," Ray remarked, "Now come on, Billie, Mike and Patrick are waiting for you two."

The tree led Josh up several long, dark grey steps with a series of columns lining the top. The whole building reminded Josh of those fancy museums back on Earth, only more darker in color. Stepping through the wide, silvery door, Josh immediately noticed that this place looked nothing like the set up in Gerard's castle. The walls and doors were all a silvery color while the the floors were a polished black. The ceilings were high and appeared to be tiled a coppery color with lights strung across the center.

No one said a word as they walked through the hallways so the only sound was their footsteps echoing off the metallic walls. After a few twists and turns through the halls, they came to a door with a green x painted on the surface. Andy pressed his fingers to a control panel by the door, granting them access inside the room. This time Jack just shoved Josh inside while still walking behind him, followed by Andy and Ray who stepped to either side of the room.

The whole room itself was clearly a throne room with the large, silvery and copper throne rested by the wall on the other side of the room. Upon the throne sat Billie with his fingers formed in a peak formation with Mike and Patrick standing on either side, all three focused on the two in front of them. "Once again, Josh, welcome back," Billie said, then looked over at Jack and said, "Mission accomplished."

"Thank you," Jack gave a small nod, "Do you want me to keep his restraints on or should I take them off?"

Billie glanced over at Mike, asking which he would prefer for his method. "Undo them," Mike responded loud enough for Jack to hear, "Besides, he's not going anywhere anytime soon. Ray, would you go grab the Emrander?"

Even though Josh didn't know what the 'Emrander' was, he didn't dare ask. After all, he had a bad feeling he may end up finding out real soon. While Ray went off to retrieve the Emander, Jack undid the purple ring around Josh's wrists and then stepped back to guard the door. "Once we use the Emrander to finally activate the chip in your neck, you'll remember everything. But, you'll also be in our control," Mike explained.

"And you'll also remember an old friend of yours," Billie added, "Patrick, would you call him over?"

Nodding, Patrick stepped off to the side and activated his helmet to call over this friend. Ray returned with a coppery loop and a small remote that he handed to Mike, then stood back to where be was before. With the remote, Mike pressed a button that caused the device to unhinge. "Now don't panic," Mike started taking a few steps towards Josh, "This'll emit an electrical pulse around your neck that'll activate the chip, returning all those memories."

"And take control of my mind," Josh added, taking a couple of steps back, "Besides, that's pretty much a collar and I don't want to end up being chained up and ordered around like some dog."

"A dog?" Billie repeated, "What the fuck is a dog?"

"A fury four legged Earth creature humans often keep as pets or use in certain services," Jack said.

"Ah," Billie nodded, "Yeah, I guess that's what we're doing. Keeping you as a little service pet in our command."

Jack appeared behind Josh and held him by the shoulders to prevent the pelmos from trying to get away. As Mike was getting closer, Josh had a sudden thought that maybe he would be able to teleport away. Trying to concentrate on a certain spot in the room, he tried his hardest to teleport to that location only to be roused out of his concentration when the copper collar's cold, metal surface was clipped around his neck. When Mike activated the Emrander, Josh was silently grateful that Jack was holding onto him or else he probably would've fallen to the ground from the pulse causing his legs to feel numb.

Suddenly Josh's eyes grew wide and it felt like a spark ignited in his mind because at that moment, he could remember everything he once knew. From his position as second in command and all that he did and accomplished, to all the small things that happened when he younger, even all his regrets and worries and how he got into this situation in the first place. Josh had just enough control on his mind to look up and see who Patrick was bringing into the room. As soon as he saw the face, he immediately knew who was in front of him and whispered, "Brendon, I'm so sorry," before everything went black.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg i'm sorry it took me like a million years to update this, I've just been busy/major procrastination/didn't have any ideas at the moment, but here it is. Most of it is a flashback chapter. I also changed the title name because I didn't like the old title anymore

  
_"Gerard, you do know we_ have _to send someone back for him," Josh spoke calmly with his hands stationed behind his back._

 _"I know," the white haired man sighed,_ _examining a spot on the wall, "I will send a rescue team to try and retrieve him, but you're not going with."_

_Josh shook his head, then firmly spoke, "Right before Brendon's signal was cut, I made him a promise that I would get him out of there no mater the cost, and I refuse to break that promise."_

_"I understand_ you _made the promise, but I can't have you meandering around the universe doing whatever you please," Gerard said, then spoke softer as if he was remembering something from the past, "Besides, sometimes you have no choice but to break a promise."_

_Upon hearing this, Josh's hands fell to his side and he looked at Gerard in disbelief, "What happened to you? You were never this harsh about a situation like this."_

_"When you have to lead a planet and constantly balance situations that could mean the lives of just one person versus, let's say five thousand, then you'll understand why I'm like this," Gerard stated, "Besides, how do you know this won't turn out to be just like Rokashu?"_

_"I got out of there in time," Josh said._

_"You were nearly killed."_

_"Nearly," Josh emphasized._

_Gerard let out a long sigh before he continued, "I know what you're like in these situations. You go into a full on 'save yourself, I'll hold them back' mode in order to get everyone else safely away. To be honest, I'm surprised you're alive."_

_"I guess I'm just to clever for them," Josh gave a small smile._

_"Yeah, that's a good idea, keep that cocky attitude. See how far you'll get. Remember this isn't just some side planet, this is Jaylis," Gerard reminded, "The heart of the Kelmit empire. One slip and they'll have you by your throat, literally. Everything with them is with those neck bands. The assassins have those black bands around their necks. If they want to torture you, they'll put some kind of collar around you. If they want to put you under their control, they'll put a collar around you."_

_"I understand, but like I said, I made a promise to Brendon that I'd do anything I could to get him back. I have to go with," Josh insisted._

_"What if something happens to you? You're second in command of this planet, Josh. Too valuable to just throw away on some suicide mission. What am I supposed to do if they catch you?"_

_"Relax, it's not gonna be a suicide mission," Josh reassured, speaking calmly and placing a hand on Gerard's shoulder, "We'll all be back with Brendon before you know it. What could go wrong?"_

_"Everything," Gerard said, then slowly shook his head, "I can see I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this... Fine, you an go with Pete, Tre and Rian, just not Mikey. He has a pretty bad feud going on with Jack, and personally I wish that Mikey would just kill that asshole already. So we don't that to compromise the mission in anyway."_

_"Yes sir," Josh bowed his head and said 'thank you' before exiting the room._

_"Just don't make me regret this," Gerard muttered once Josh was out of the room._

_-*-*-_

_"Judging by the layout of the Kelmit's largest, and main, building," Mikey started, pulling up a holographic 3-D image of the building's blueprints, "My guess is that they'd have Brendon here." Mikey touched a selection on the underground level, causing a red blip to appear._

_"And you're sure about that?" Pete asked, keeping his eyes on the red blip._

_"Based on what I've seen every other time I've had to sneak through those labyrinth hallways, I'd believe so." Mikey said, "But Gerard really said I couldn't go because of my so called 'feud' with Jack?"_

_"Yeah," Josh nodded, "Sorry, I guess he thinks that you'll purposely break from the mission to go find him or something, putting us all in danger?"_

_"Please," Mikey snorted, crossing his arms and looking away," He's probably just being over protective again. One of the many perks of having your brother being the ruler of the planet."_

_"Hey come on," Tre started, "Just be glad that he cares about you and isn't so focused on leading the planet that he completely forgets about you."_

_"I suppose," Mikey sighed._

_"So what's the plan?" Rian asked, "I'm guessing we're not just marching in there and doing whatever we feel like."_

_"The plan," Josh repeated, "Alright, between the four of us going, we'll take two of the smaller ships, that way we're not as noticeable, Rian, you'll be with Pete. Tre, you'll be with me."_

_"When you land, there's parts of the roof that have air vents to filter the outside air that's toxic to many other species. Whenever I land by the vents, I always park in the shadows because you don't want to be seen.  To get inside, take this and press it against the inner wall near where the blades are spinning," Mikey presented a small, grey, circular disk with an unlit light in the center, "This'll send out a pulse that'll cause the blades to stop spinning for 30 seconds. That should be just enough time for the two that's at the certain vent to slip through."_

_"Why do we have to be fucking around with these vents?" Tre asked, "Why can't we just teleport in?"_

_"Believe me, I've tried that," Mikey frowned,"But the whole building is surrounded by an invisible field that prevents anyone from just teleporting in or out. The vents should be fairly easy to navigate through. They're sturdy and shouldn't make too much noise that would cause people to hear you crawling through them. And one more thing, be careful. You never know who could be wandering through those halls."_

_-*-*-_

_"Systems online," Tre said, pressing the final button that activated the wireless communication devices on the ship._

_"Good," Josh nodded, typing a three digit code into the touch screen, linking the other ship. "Pete, can you hear me?"_

_"Loud and clear," Pete responded, "Ready for take off?"_

_"Yup," Josh said, "But let's not doddle around with this one, Gerard didn't seem to keen on letting me go with you guys."_

_"Well of course," Rian added, "Remember Rokoshu?"_

_"Does everyone feel the need to bring that up?" Josh rolled his eyes._

_The line began crackling for about half a second before a new voice added in, "I think they do, there's other ways to get out of a situation than to have everyone escape while you're trying to fight everyone off."_

_"Mikey?" Pete asked, "How did you get through? This is a secure line."_

_"Pete, I'm a spy," Mikey sighed, "I hack into things, it's what I do."_

_"You're not coming with us are you?" Josh asked._

_"Oh, don't worry. Gerard made sure that didn't happen. But it doesn't matter because as long as you four stick together once inside I can lead you through the hallways to where Brendon should be."_

_"How are you gonna know where we are?" Tre asked._

_"Oh, I placed a tracking device on Pete," Mikey casually said._

_"You what? Where?" Pete gasped, frantically feeling around for any signs of Mikey's device._

_"Don't worry, it'll pass through your system in about a day," Mikey said, "Now hurry up guys, you gotta go rescue my spy buddy before it's too late."_

_-*-*-_

_Following Mikey's instructions, they managed to get inside without any problems, and with Mikey's help, the two groups were able to reconnect. "So which way, Mikey?" Pete asked through the communication devices around his wrist._

_"Go strait and take a left at the second intersection," Mikey responded. "Be cautious of the guards and of anyone else wandering the halls. The assassins have heat sensors built into their helmets so even if you turn invisible, they'll still be able to detect you."_

_"Alright," Pete said to his group, "You heard him, let's go."_

_They finally managed to get through the labyrinth of hallways and found their way to the underground holding cells. "Do you see him anywhere?" Josh asked as the four of them peeked through the small barred window on each of the cell doors._

_"I don't," Pete shook his head, turning away from another cell._

_"Uh, guys," Tre said without taking his eyes off the small window, "I think I found him."_

_The other three came over and circled the small window where they saw Brendon on the ground sitting against the wall with his head down. He still had on the same clothes as before, an attire similar to Mikey's only a very dark blue. "Brendon," Josh whispered loud enough for the spy to hear._

_"No no, you won't get inside my  head," Brendon muttered, his head shaking from side to side, "I won't let you."_

_"Brendon?" Tre spoke a bit louder._

_Getting the spy's attention, Brendon's head popped up and looking through the small window with large groggy eyes. "Wha... what are you guys doing here?" Brendon asked sounding more worried than anything else._

_"We're here to rescue you, duh," Rian said._

_"Remember I promised I'd get you out," Josh reminded._

_"You...what? N...no!" Brendon practically shouted, jumping up to his feet. "Get out of here, this is what they wanted. They put me here so you'd find me and capture you. Now go! Before it's too late."_

_"But Brendon, I..." Josh started._

_"Josh, I'm sorry. You four have to go. Now. It's better off that one of us is trapped here than all five. So please go, I'll be fine."_

_Josh was about to say something more when Mikey's voice echoed through their communication devices, "Hey, I hate to break it to you guys, but the walls are shifting. As far as I can tell, they're making it so there's gonna be no easy escape."_

_"Fuck," Brendon muttered, "They know you're hear."_

_"Well of course," Patrick said walking through the entrance of the hall, "You guys did fall right into my plan."_

_A female laugh echoed through out the room as Jack and a blonde haired woman with her wavy hair tied back entered behind Patrick. "Please, it was my idea to have Brendon stir from his sleep by the sound of their voices, triggering the alarm."_

_She spoke in an accent of some sort and was dressed the same way as the other two assassins. The only difference besides her hair was her leather, fingerless gloves, her long, sharp, black painted nails, bright red lipstick, and the heels of her boots were higher and far more pointed. "Aw come on, Maria," Jack spoke, giving his friend a playful nudge, "Don't say I didn't give you any ideas."_

_"It doesn't matter who's idea it was," Patrick silenced the two, "All that matters is that we have them right where we want them."_

_"Wait a minute," Jack narrowed his eyes, studying the people in front of them, "Where's Mikey? Shouldn't he be part of your little team?"_

_"Gerard didn't let him go because of the feud between you and him," Pete added._

_"Come on Jack," Maria frowned, placing a hand on her hip, "You see what you did? You made a bad impression and now he won't let Mikey play with us anymore."_

_"Oh don't worry, Mikey will be back eventually," Jack said without taking his eyes off the group of intruders._

_"Well, you may have trapped us," Pete started, giving a devious smirk and turning invisible, "But can you capture us?"_

_Following his example, the other three turned invisible as well and spread out through out the hallway. Josh took this opportunity to teleport into Brendon's cell, making himself visible once more."Get out of here," Brendon harshly whispered, "It's too late for me, but you guys can get out of here without them taking control of your mind."_

_"But I promised I'd get you out of here," Josh said, fumbling with the device around Brendon's neck that Josh assumed prevented him from escaping._

_"Then come get me another time," Brendon pushed his arm away, "Right now you need to go."_

_"But..."_

_"Get," Brendon hissed, surprising Josh with this drastic change of mood._

_Outside, he could hear Patrick shouting, "You do realize we can see you with our thermal vision? Turning invisible won't help you much."_

_"That may be so," Pete remarked, using his telekinetic abilities to undo the laces on Patrick's boots, "But at least my shoes are tied."_

_Looking down at his untied laces, Patrick let out an exasperated sigh and asked, "Are you done? Or is there any other of your little 'tricks' you'd like to preform?"_

_"Well... I could do this! Zip zip zip zip," and with each 'zip' Pete made the zipper on Patrick's jacket go up or down._

_"Pete, what are you doing?" Rian whispered, "You're gonna seriously piss him off."_

_"Don't you worry, Rian," Pete smirked, "I do shit like this every time we meet. I'm pretty sure every since he saw me here he was already pissed off at me. Isn't that right Patrick? It's just always fun to trick the 'Trick."_

_Patrick made a low hissing sound, pulled out a knife with a jagged blade from his boot, turned to the other two assassins and said, "Get them."_

_Back in Brendon's cell, Josh still hadn't left, but rather_ couldn't  _leave. "Why can't I get out of here?" Josh tried not to panic, looking over at Brendon._

_The spy was now sitting against the wall with his knees brought up close to him and his hands were clenched into fists, pressed against his forehead. "Of course," Brendon muttered, "I thought it was just because of this stupid thing they put around my neck. But they must've...fuck..."_

_"What did they do? What's the matter?"_

_"The walls..." Brendon muttered, "Oh, my head... they did something to my head... It's like... being ripped apart..."_

_Josh was about to say something more when Pete's voice spoke into the cell, "Hey Josh, what's the hold up? We gotta get out of here."_

_"I can't get out of here," Josh responded._

_"What do you mean you can't get out?" Pete's voice sounded rushed as he used his psi's to defend off Patrick's attack._

_"The walls..." Brendon  muttered loud enough for Pete to hear, "They keep you locked in... stay out."_

_"That's right!" Patrick shouted, pushing Pete against the wall, "You can get in, but you can't get out. Just like any other trap used to catch animals like you."_

_"Oh? So now_ we're  _the animals? We're not the ones who're tying to enslave the entire universe," Pete roughly spoke, using an unseen force to push Patrick away._

 _"Pete," Josh spoke sternly, before Pete had a chance to go after Patrick, "Listen carefully, you and the others_ need _to get out of here. I don't care how you do it, just go. Right now."_  
  
_"We can't leave you behind," Pete said glancing over at Josh, still trying to defend of Patrick. "Besides, Gerard's gonna kill us if we come back without you."_

___Josh sighed and looked down for a moment before looking back up at Pete, "I know, I know. I messed up big time. Tell him I should've listened and stayed behind. Now please, go. Save yourselves. I'll get out of here, I promise. Just, be careful."_

Pete hesitated before whispering, "You shouldn't keep making promises you can't keep, Joshua."

Before anyone could say anymore, Pete pulled away from the door, going after Patrick once more.

-*-*-

Josh awoke from what felt like a hazy dream. He was sitting up right on a metal chair with his wrists faceted to the arms by metal cuffs and he could feel something covering his head. "Oh look," someone Josh could now recognize as Maria stood in front of him, "He's finally awake."

"Oh is he now?" Mike asked, walking towards them. "Welcome back to consciousness, you were out for a while."

When Josh didn't respond, Maria began, "So, you managed to escape last time, only loosing your memory, but now, much to your dismay, there's gonna be no possible escape."

She paused, waiting for some response, but all Josh was doing was looking down and was glad that his friends were able to make it out of this place alive. But yet, those last words Pete said to him before they got away somehow and the assassins came into Brendon's cell, bringing him here, trying so hard to break him. He couldn't help but to run those words through his head over and over again. Just like like last time. And just like last time he was attached to the same chair, in the same room room, surrounded by the same two people. Josh was broken from his thoughts when he felt a set of black pointed fingernails dig into his cheek and force him to look upwards at the assassin in front of him, "You're not even listening," Maria hissed, "Are you?"

Josh was silent for a moment before he shook his head, the hand falling away from his face. "A promise made is a promise I plan to keep. No matter how long it'll take to fulfill. And I guarantee that I'll keep Brendon's promise and I'll keep Pete's promise and I'l make up one more, just for you two. When I get out of here, and Brendon's safe and back to his own state of mind, you two are gonna suffer the same misery you put us through. And that is my promise to you."

Mike snorted, "Well, good luck with that. Maria, ignite the switches."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my best friend reads this so i added maria in just because :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long to update, I just kept getting distracted...whoops

Brendon and Josh were standing side by side, staring straight ahead with a glassy, blank expression in their eyes. "Are they done?" Billie asked, turning from the two pelmos' to face Mike and Maria.  
  
"They certainly are," Maria answered, giving a small nod, "Just like a pair of puppets, they'll do anything you command them to. A pair of loyal soldiers."  
  
"Excellent," Billie glanced over at the two then gave a devious smirk, "Oh, how ironic would it be to destroy one of our biggest enemies with two of their own people."  
  
"Do I sense a plan?" Mike asked.  
  
"There was already a plan," Billie said, waving a hand, "First you must get them informed on what their mission is. They obey to us now, and will only act like they're obeying to them, just until we give them orders to stand by us. Also meaning we're the only ones who can reverse it. Not that we'd ever want to that is. After they're informed and equipped with whatever it is they'll need, we send them back home. Alone. Make it appear as if they escaped from us, when they're actually readying us for our attack on Ayma. Once they're back in, we hit Gerard where it hurts, his little brother Mikey. Normally I'd send one of the assassins to go through with that job, but Jack seems to have some sort of 'love-hate-rivalry' relationship with Mikey that always seems to be getting in the way of his...er...extermination."  
  
"So you're saying you want these two to just kill Mikey?" Maria crossed her arms, expecting more to be of this plan.  
  
"No no," Billie shook his head, "They're not gonna  _kill_ Mikey. Not yet, anyways. They'll get him alone and make it so he'd be rather incapable of moving around for a while. Gerard will be so focused on whether or not his brother is alright, that he won't be alert to what's going on around his planet, causing him to slip up. And that's where we step in. With you two, Patrick, Jack and the guards Andy and Ray, we should be able to march right up to Gerard and over take his planet with ease."  
  
"The only problem with that plan is everyone else on that planet may not like that idea so much. Gerard might be taken over, but what about everyone else? We're not just taking about some planet like Zaymnin where everyone just runs and hides at the sight of our ships landing, this is Ayma. Who's people have evolved from us, know our tricks, and as we've seen it before, won't give up without a fight. The planets with the most free will are always the more challenging ones to take over."  
  
"True," Billie agreed, "But once you have them down on their knees, they're be pretty easy to conquer. You can only bend so far before you break." Turning back to Josh and Brendon, he snapped is fingers in between the two of them, waking them up from their trance. "Do you two have anything to say about this plan?"  
  
"You're not planning on having us beat Mikey up, are you?" Brendon asked.  
  
"Making him unconscious was part of the plan," Billie said, then narrowed his eyes and growing suspicious that it didn't work, "Why?"  
  
"Because," Josh answered, "Don't you think it would be a little suspicious if he were to suddenly become unconscious from a beating in a place of such high security?"  
  
"And if he wakes up, he'd surly give us away," Brendon added.  
  
"So what do you suggest we do instead?" Mike asked.  
  
"Sickness can bring even the most powerful down," Brendon said so seriously that the Billie wondered if those words had another meaning than to just towards Mikey.  
  
"It can," Josh nodded, "And from my observations, every morning Gerard and Mikey each start off the day with a cup of ground up coffeley drink. They even have their own cup they drink from and everything. So if we use some sort of clear toxin that you can't taste, see, or smell and coat the inside of his cup with that, as long as it only sickens him, that should do the trick."  
  
"The sap from the enifasis tree on planet Eshdid," Maria quickly mentioned, "I use it from now and then when people are being a little too uncooperative. It puts someone unconscious for about five to eight hours and when they wake up, for the next several days they'll be left pretty delirious."  
  
"That could work..." Billie nodded, then turned to Brendon and Josh, "I want you two to message me as soon as Mikey goes unconscious and then later on again on how Gerard seems to be reacting to it all."  
  
"Yes sir," the two both said in union.  
  
"Good, now Maria, take them back with you to Patrick so he can assert them on everything they'll need for their mission," Billie commanded.  
  
"Yes sir. Come along boys, there's much yet to do," Maria informed, walking out the door, not bothering to see if either were following.  
  
-*-*-  
  
"Then with your triple stationed around the outside, those who end up running from my triple would be caught regardless," a woman with long, straight black hair, dressed similar to the other assassins, and stood the same height as Patrick with her heels explained, gesturing to a holographic blueprint in front of them.  
  
Standing at the doorway with Brendon and Josh behind her, Maria cleared her throat informing them of her presence, "Is this a good time or should I bring them back later?"  
  
"Now is fine," Patrick nodded, gesturing them forward and switching off the holographic image. Turning to the woman next to him he said, "Thank you Amy, that should be it for today. Please contact me again when you're ready to start this off."  
  
"Will do," Amy nodded, then walked out.  
  
"Are we teaming up with the Southern Triple for something?" Maria asked once Amy was gone.  
  
"Yeah," Patrick scratched his cheek, seemed to be still lost in thought, "I'll go over that with you and Jack later. Anyways, was their a foundation set up regarding how to take Mikey down?"  
  
"Yeah, we're going to poison him by coating the inside of his morning drinking up with...uh..." Brendon started but couldn't remember what the poison was called.  
  
"Enifasis tree sap," Maria finished.  
  
"That's it," Brendon snapped his fingers, remembering the information.  
  
"Oh, I think I have some of that in a vial around here somewhere," Patrick turned away, running a finger over a series of drawers along the back wall. Pulling one open he took out a sealed glass tube of transparent, syrup-like material and placed it on top of a dark colored wooden desk. "Is this what you were planning on using?"  
  
"That's it," Maria reported, taking hold of the vial and looking through the glass at the tree sap.  
  
"So, are we going to need special gloves and brushes in order to handle this shit?" Brendon asked, focusing on the vial in her hands.  
  
"Not from my experiences," Maria said, handing off the glass container to Brendon.  
  
"This isn't going to leave any indication that he's been poisoned, is it? Because there's no doubt that Gerard is going to have Frank check him over for damage," Josh asked, watching the exchange.  
  
"I know for sure there won't be any indication on the outside," Maria explained, adjusting her fingerless gloves. "I've never heard of any traces being left behind on the inside, but then again it never concerned me enough to go out and see."  
  
"How long will it be until he goes unconscious?" Brendon asked.  
  
"About five to ten minutes," Maria said, looking up at Brendon, "After he drinks it all."  
  
"Hopefully that'll be enough time to avoid suspicion," Brendon then turned to Josh who gave a slight nod.  
  
"Unfortunately we're not going to be able to give you two your weapons back, just to add to the whole 'escaping' ruse. But here," Patrick then tossed them a key with a ring metal ring attached to a corner that he pulled out from his jacket pocket. Josh grabbed for it, only to have the key slip past his fingers and fall to the floor. Quickly retrieving it from the floor without a word, Patrick continued, "Anyways, that's for ship Gate in the third ship wing. If you want I can have Maria escort you there."  
  
"That would probably be best. With our luck we'd end up hijacking the wrong one," Brendon joked, still amused from Josh's failed attempt to catch the keys.  
  
"Or get lost along the way," Patrick added, "That key will allow you to unlock the ship. I'm sure you know how to start it up?"  
  
"Yeah," Josh nodded, looking down at the jagged corner of the rectangular key, "I'm pretty good with navigating various space crafts."  
  
"Show off," Brendon smirked, earning an eye roll from his friend.  
  
"Well in all fairness, it's better you have someone who knows what they're doing than be stranded in the depths of space. There's not much air to breathe out there," Maria noted.  
  
"I know I was just joking," Brendon put his hands up defensively, "We should probably get going anyways."  
  
"Yes, that would be best," Patrick agreed, trying to subtly nudge them out the door, "The sooner this gets done the better, Billie doesn't like to wait long on missions such as these. Just, be careful not to leave any trace behind. You're doing assassin work after all, so it can not be sloppy."  
  
"Why? Cause it'll ruin your reputation?" Brendon sneered.  
  
"No," Patrick shook his head, "Because it'll ruin yours."


End file.
